Cole the Torchic
by BladeDancer123
Summary: When a shy Torchic joins Wiggilytuff Guild to discover his Idols no longer go there, even for missions, and gets caught up in a giant plot made up by an evil Ditto who is trying to cause a planet wide guild war, and finds the best ally he can count on in the most unwanted of places, how will he cope in a lifestyle he knows next to nothing about? I have no idea what to rate this.
1. Chapter 1

Pokemon MD:EOS 1:1

The tale of the famous exploration team Beast Brawl was an epic one, in the true sense of the word. It had started out when an easily frightened Shinx found a Riolu, a pokemon that was almost never seen, passed out on a beach. They formed an exploration team with the famous Wigglytuff Exploration Guild. As they explored and gained experience as an exploration team, they slowly got stronger. Then one day, something called a Time Gear was stolen. Now these Time Gears keep time flowing in their respective areas. The pokemon behind it all was a grass type pokemon called Grovyle, and this one was very powerful. As more and more Time Gears were stolen, a legendary explorer named Dusknoir showed up at the guild. Together, Dusknoir and the guild formed a plan to capture Grovyle and take back the Time Gears. When Grovyle went for the last Time Gear, the trap was sprung and Grovyle was captured. Dusknoir revealed that he and Grovyle were actualy from the future and that he was sent back to find and aprahend the fugitive Grovyle, who had escaped into the past. When Dusknoir went back to the future with Grovyle, for some strange reason, he grabbed the members of Team Beast Brawl, and pulled them into the future. While they where there, Shinx and Riolu learnt that Grovyle was actually the good guy who had been sent back in time with Riolu when he was still a human in order to stop the Temporal Tower from collapsing by gathering the Time Gears, going to the Temporal Tower, and placing the gears in the slots at the peak. They also learnt that Dusknoir was sent back in time by a driven-insane Dialga to stop Grovyle and Riolu from doing that, and thus keeping the reality where the collapse of Temporal Tower drives him insane, from being destroyed. When they returned to the past/ present, they had to hide for a while. But eventualy, they came out of hiding, and revealed everything. They were then allowed to gather the Time Gears without hinderance, and travel to Temporal Tower. Traveling to it's peak was a long and tiring journey, but one that needed to be done. When they reached the peak's base, they were put to the test by one final battle with Dusknoir and his Sableye minions. When they won, Grovyle forced Dusknoir into his own time-portal, but had to go with him in the proccess. With Grovyle seemingly gone for good, Shinx picked up the Time Gears and they left for the stone elevator-like platform that would take them to the peak. When they arrived, it appeared that they were too late, for Dialga had already gone insane. But, as it turns out, not completely. With new determination, the duo prepared for the most difficult, and suicidle of battles; the battle against a Dialga ruled by instinct and madness. With extremely high amounts of sheer dumb luck and reviver seeds, the two managed to win and restore Dialga to his normal state. The Time Gears where placed in a pillar, and time, and the Tower, where restored to normal. But even then, it wasn't over!

They graduated from the guild, and found a strange egg. This egg later turned out to be that of a Manaphy, the Prince of the Sea. After a short time of rasing him, they said their farwells and left the young water type in the care of a powerful Walrein. Soon after, Palkia, the Ruler of Space, kidnapped them, in way, and took them to his realm. Once they reached him, a battle as firece as the one against Dialga, Ruler of Time, ensued. Afterwards, the enraged Palkia calmed down and teleported them back to their own realm. Next, an old foe, Drowzee, sent them into the young Azurill's mind to fix his state of permanent nightmare-filled slumber. They discovered that a pokemon named Darkrai had caused it, and the screw up that occured while Riolu and Grovyle were traveling back through time and cuased Riolu to loose his memory and become a pokemon. Angered, they chased him to his lair, the Dark Crater, and with the help of Cresselia, the pokemon hunting Darkrai, defeated him and his seven powerful minions in their most difficult fight to date. Then, an old friend popped by. An old friend called Manaphy. They took him to a place called 'Water Resort' which was located ON the ocean. The three had fun there, and said farwell to their old friend upon arrival back at home. They later discovered that finaly, like everyone else could, (after the duo graduated) they could evolve. Now, years later as "level 100's", they have done everything that an exploration team could ever dream of doing, and Wigglytuff is the most proud he has been. Now, they get ready to make way for a new generation of extrordinary explorers as the stories of their exploits encourage many young pokemon to become explorers. This story centres around one young pokemon in particular who has been enspired by the epic that is Team Beast Brawl's story, more than most. His name? Cole. And he is a Torchic.

I really hope you liked this introductory chapter! I also hope I did a good job of the summary of Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. And in case your wondering, I've played every Mystery Dungeon game except for Gates of Infinty and the Wii ones. And I've played from Crystal to Y. And yes, I will be putting Unova and Kalos pokemon in here. Also, I am writting about 3 stories at the same time at the momment, so... Yeah... Please bare with me!


	2. Chapter 2

It's a grate. Just. A damn. Grate. He thought to himself as he stepped onto said grate.

"A Torchic! A Torchic! A Torchic has come to visit!" Yelled a pokemon from far below the wooden nauts-and-crosses board.

That damn Plusle. Spoke so darn suddenly, I nearly jumped outta my skin!

"Noooo... It's a Yamask!"

Does that Minum actually think I'm one of those creepy ghost guys that carry around there own FACES?!

"No it's not! It's a Torchic! Look closely!"

"Oh, yeah. I guess it is a Torchic... Heh heh... My bad..."

"You see, this is why I am Head Footprint Checker, instead of you!"

This is getting annoying... "Could one of you just let me in already?"

The Plusle looked up. "Oh sorry dude! Completely forgot about you, thanks to this dunce over here."

"I, am not, a dunce!"

"Just go open the door for the poor guy, wouldja? Noobs..." a few momments passed and the door to the guild opened.

He went to step inside when a Crobat flew into him. "Hey! Woddaya think ya doin' ya little- Oh hey Cole. Finally joining huh? I remember when I first joined. Me and Weezing were just basics back then when we joined purely out of spite towards team Beast Brawl. Man were we pricks. Weezing still is. Out of our team, only I changed my ways. Weezing and Skuntank stayed assholes, and Skuntank was killed by a Pangoro he pissed off. Severely, pissed off. Good ridance I say. Friggin' dipshity piece of- probably shouldn't speak like that around kids, should I? Aaaanyway, I just got a job. One star."

"Nice! So what did you mean by 'basics'?"

"Oh that? Well for example you're a basic. Combusken is your first evolution and Blaziken is your second. Does 'at clear things up for ya?"

"Yeah, Thanks!"

"No problem! If ya ever need my help, just ask!"

"Ok, I will! Thanks for the offer Crobat!" The purple four winged bat flashed him a smile as he flew on by. With confidence, Cole wandered in and headed for the ladder. It was kind of difficult climbing down it considering he only had his feet and no hands to use. He was emmerging from the hole that the ladder went through when he lost his grip and began to fall. From the ceiling to the floor it was an eight metre drop and he had already fallen three of those in the past second. On the floor, a Hitmonlee noticed him falling and propelled himself up by extending his legs and using the momentum to launch himself to the falling small orange chick. He caught him and landed in a similar way to how he launched himself into the air. "Be careful with that ladder little Torchic."

"Ok, I will." Cole carfully switched to the second ladder and climbed down it, this time, without falling. He walked over to the big imposing doors that led to Wigglytuff's chamber, gulped and went to peck at the door when it suddenly burst open inwardly and Cole was shot backwards by a big white belly. He tumbled back in a ball and hit his head on the wall. "Oww... That hurt." he looked up to see Wigglytuff staring at him intently. "Oh! It's y-you, Wigglytuff! I was just about to come into your office place."

"Really? Why?" He asked cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"I wanted to ask you i..." Cole said as he trailed off.

"What did you want to ask me?"

"If I cou..." he trailed off against.

"If you could what?" Wigglytuff asked with genuine curiosity. Cole inhaled and then exhaled.

"If I could join your guild!"

"Of course you can! There's just one requirement. You have to prove yourself worthy by completing a mission!" Wigglytuff said with glee.

Are you serious?! I have to do a mission to join?! This is just rediculous! Ugh. Hope he doesn't give me a hard one. He thought as he stood waiting. Wigglytuff looked at him wierdly.

"Well? You going to go pick one or what?"

"Oh, right. Sorry I'll be going now." Cole stood up and walked towards the ladder. The way he climbed it was akward. He'd grab a rung with his talons, then bite the next one so he could lift his feet without falling. Once he got a hold with his feet, he'd bite the next one up, and so forth.

On the ground, a Marshtomp looked up and said. "There has gotta be better way for that poor guy to climb that thing." the Marshtomp shook his head and kept walking.

Back on the job request board level, Cole was looking at a slip of paper, confused and frustrated. Confused about the job's location, and frustrated about his predicament: he just couldn't reach the slip of paper. He saw a black, four legged figure with blue marks jump up and grab it. The figure landed and placed the slip infront of him. "This one huh? Interesting job you picked there, Cole." Announced the shiny Umbreon.

"Realy? How come?"

"Well for one, the location. 'Cramped Swamp' is one of those newly discovered places. Though I don't know why they call it cramped there's practicaly no one there. The levels of the pokemon there are all over the place, and no one has really been explored the place 'sept team Beast Brawl, who discovered the place. They didn't name it cause there was already a sign there stating it's name. The second thing is the job itself. It's a bounty job for a Ditto. They're known to be E rank strength, but this guy is listed as a... Three Star! What are you, insane?! You actualy thought you could take him on?!"

"No. I picked a rescue job for there and I was seeing if there were any outlaws I should watch out for. I ain't that stupid." Umbreon sighed when he heard that. He had been like a big brother to Cole since he came here to Treasure Town. He worried about Cole making stupid, reckless choices and injuring himself. Cole walked towards the ladder and somehow climbed the ladder while holding the E-rank oran berry delivery request.

After he left, Umbreon was standing at the Bounty board when it flipped over. "Updating time huh? Wonder what they're gonna change this time." Just as he finished speaking the board flipped back over and Umbreon took a face of complete horrifying shock; the Ditto mission had been upgraded to a Twelve-Star mission, a rank that had never been achieved before. He shot his gaze to the ladder and screamed out. "Cole!" If he ran into that Ditto during his job, he wouldn't just be knocked unconcious, he'd be killed!

Hey people! Just letting you know, with the dungeons I will be making them realistic. So for example I won't be putting walls in the dungeons unless they're caves, cliffy areas, industrialised places, you know, things like that. Just one more thing. Don't expect me to update this quickly all the time. Thanks for reading! R&amp;R!


	3. Chapter 3

Cole stood on wet and slimy grass the went up to his neck. The swamp- grass wasn't tightly packed so if any pokemon shorter than he was attacked him, he'd still be able to see them clearly. He looked around at the swamp in front him and saw a wooden sign which read 'Cramped Swamp'. He looked past the sign and saw hundreds of huge, thick- trunked Mangrove looking trees but without the airborne roots. He could only see into the swamp for about fifty metres, as after that it all faded to black. Dispite the fact that it was daytime and the sun was blaring, it was amazingly dull and dark.

He took a step into the swamp and was immediately hit with a blast of extreme humidity. If he wasn't a fire type he'd be pouring out sweating by now. This definitely didn't look like a fire type habitat so how it's inhabitants could stand it here he'd never know, and personaly didn't want to. And weren't swamps supppse to be cool? Meh, not that it mattered anyway. He walked through the waist high water and neck high grass as he studied his surroundings. About five minutes of wandering and he noticed a bunch of leaves in a tree shaking.

He stopped moving and turned to face the tree as he saw a flash of purple shoot out at him. He dodged the shape as it flew past him and into the water. The long purple shape twisted and shot at him. Cole jumped backwards and slid back about a metre then jumped forwards in a frontflip and Scratched at the Ekans' face with his right middle talon. The snake cried out as it's face was gashed, and then again when Cole used Scratch with his left foot as it fell to the ground after the flip. The Ekans flicked it's head around and hissed before rearing up to strike. It shot out a barrage of bright purple needles at Cole, who tried to dodge but still made contact with about half. Luckily, most of that half flew through his feathers harmlessly, but some still pierced his body.

"Now I understand why Poison Sting's power is so low, becuase only a few needles out of about fifty actualy hit you. If they all did it's power would be a lot higher." Cole explained to himself as the bright purple needles disipated.

"Well obviously! Now here's another one!" Said the Ekans as it used Poison Sting again. This time it missed, and Cole countered with Scratch.

Just one more Scratch and that Ekans faints. What level is this thing anyway? A level ten even would have fainted after three Scratches. It's not that it's a powerful attack, it's just that most level tens' defence stat isn't that good. Well except for Shuckles anyway. Stop thinking about stuff! Focus Cole, focus!

Cole ran at the Ekans and went to use Scratch, but instead gripped the Ekans with his left foot, balled up his right, and slammed his right foot into the Ekans' stomach, rendering it unconcious. Cole slipped down against a tree to recover his strength. He could eat the Oran Berry he was holding, but it was the only item he had and it was for a job request. He breathed heavily as he regained his health. "I really should have trained in Morroak Dojo a bit before coming along on this job. Ah well, too late to complain now. Better start moving." He got up and started walking through the thick, slimy water.

He had been walking for about half an hour when a small, thin torrent of water shot millimetres from his face. Cole turned his head in utter shock to see a Marshtomp standing one hundred and fifty meters away to his right, with it's mouth open. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me! A friggin' Marshtomp? What the hell am I suppose to do against that?!" Cole turned away from the wild Marshtomp and started running as fast as his talons could take him. He narrowly dodged another Water Gun as he ducked then swerved to his left. He took a quick left passed a tree as a Mud Shot shot passed him. As soon as he passed the tree another Water Gun appeared infront of him and he ducked down then half-drifted around a Corner to his right as another Water Gun zoomed passed his ear. He turned his head to the Marshtomp and yelled. "What the hell did I do to you?!"

"Nothin'! I just like taking down weaklings! And guess what? You're a weakling!"

"Agh!" Cole winned as he swerved out of the way of yet another Water Gun.

Screw this! Cole thought. An orange glow appeared from him and small lines of energy flew off of him for about three centimeters and disipated. He Jumped at a tree and used Scratch on it and, thanks to the effects of Focus Energy, it left a deep gash in the base of the tree.

Damn! Didn't work! I'll have to loop back to that point, then do it again until it falls down into the Marshtomp's path. Cole thought as he took a sharp turn to the left, the Marshtomp using the same tactic as when he first turned during their chase. Cole jumped over a high root, and the Marshtomp took this as an chance to hit him, and let loose with a Mud Shot. Cole placed a talon on a tree trunk and used his momentum to swing around verticaly so that he was facing the other direction. When he had completed the 180 he pulled his talon out, flinging him back the way he came. The combonation of Cole and the Marshtomp's speed made it seemed like Cole shot like a bullet, and at this the Marshtomp exclaimed. "Dah hell?! Get back here!" it yelled as it turned around and started sprinting.

Cole noticed the energy lines stop and the glowing ceace. He re- activated Focus Energy as he approached the turn he needed. He jumped to the tree on his right, used scratch, launched himself the the left tree, used scratch again, then boosted off the tree and towards the first tree he marked. He used Scratch on it, making the trunk thin enough so it would fall down by itself, then used two Focus Energy enhanced Scratches on the tree next to it, making it too fall down. He Scratched one of the other two trees he had previoisly used scratch on, creating a dead end for the Marshtomp.

The Marshtomp saw the dead end and slowed down, stopping in the middle of the three-sided square. He heard a tree creaking and turned around to see Cole finishing off a Scratch on the now falling tree. It fell and closed him in.

Cole stood outside the giant box he just made, doing his version of a pant, think about how damn thick that last tree was. Damn thing required two more Scratches than it should've. "Man that was close!"

"Don't relax yet you litle orange bird! When I get outta here you're dead!"

Gulp. Better hurry up and get moving then, he thought. He wandered back down the route of their chase, he was getting hungry and he swore he saw some apples in a tree back there. He walked down the path for a while, trying to spot the apple tree. He looked around and spotted a Belsprout. He tensed up, knowing that although he had the type advantage, he didn't know any fire type moves just yet, and that knowing this place, it was probably stronger than it looked. It came forward and Cole ran at it.

"No, no! Wait! I'm here to thank you!" Cole stopped moving, astounded that this pokemon was thanking him for something of which he probably had no idea.

"Thank me? For what?"

"For stopping Marshtomp, even if only temporarily. Here, have this Big Apple as my thanks."

Wait a minute! Did I just complete an outlaw job... without even taking it? Awesome!

"Thanks for the Big Apple, I was getting hungry actually."

No problem!"

Cole flashed a smile and walked away. He had gotten about five meters when he realised that he had forgotten to grab the Big Apple. He turned around walked back to the Bellsprout. He smiled weakly and admitted, "I forgot the apple." He grabbed the Big Apple with his left wing and held it to his chest, as his right wing was busy holding the Oran Berry. As he walked, he realised that the swamp-water had been at ankle level since just before his fight with the Ekans. He pulled his head back a bit before tilting it downwards and taking a bite out of the Big Apple. He ate the apple as he walked, careful not to drop it.

Eventualy, he arrived at an area that was void of trees in a big circle shape, but somehow it was still as relatively dark as the rest of the swamp. On the other side of the clearing stood a scared looking Zorua.

finally! The client! Cole thought as he began walking towards the small black fox. When he got close enough, he spoke up. "Are you the Zorua who requested the Oran Berry? I'm here to deliver it."

The Zorua smiled greatfully before speaking. "Really? Thank god you came!" The Zorua said. "I'm sorry about this... you just fell into a trap!" Cole got ready to fight the little black fox pokemon, but it didn't attack. After a bit Cole calmed down and relaxed his body.

"Fell into a trap? Yeah right. This is no tra-" Cole was interupted by what felt like a Metagross using a Meteor Mash, but with the speed of a Bullet Punch. Cole was sent flying, knocked out soon after the attack made contact. Before he was knocked out, Cole got a glimpse of the attacker. Sure enough, it had the lower arms of a fully evolved Metagross, but that was the only part that belonged to a Metagross. The rest of it's body was a mix of about twenty pokemon. For example, the head looked like a humanoid version of a Luxray's, but instead of the usual mane, it had blue fire that looked like it belonged to a shiny Ponyta, aranged like the mane of a male Pyroar. A closer look revealed that the lower arms had metal spikes that looked like Crobat wings, and had bright blue rings going down them like arm bands. Cole would have gotten a better look at his attacker, but it teleported next to the Zorua and crossed it's arms just before he fainted. The last thing Cole saw was the thing grinning wildly and saying, "Good work partner. You just brought in another kill." This made the Zorua look down slightly upset and cringing.


	4. Chapter 4

Cole came to and immediately noticed that he was on dry ground. The next thing he noticed was that he was still in the swamp, just a dry part. Probably a point that's higher up in elevation than the rest of the swamp. Then he noticed that someone had used Embargo to tie him up in chains. He struggled against them, but it was no use.

He looked up and saw the same creature from before standing above him. Glancing at the hands, he saw a small hole in them, as if someone had drilled into them. The upper arms where simple enough. They were like those of a Machamp. Then he noticed it had four arms, all the same. He couldn't tell what made up his torso, but it was both slim and muscley at the same time. He noticed the wings of a Noivern sprouted from his back, but with sharper and more wicked looking edges, as if they were half Noivern wing and half Scyther scythe. He also had the neck fur of a Noivern too. His legs looked like those of a demonic werewolf, and he wasn't even going to try to figure those out. When it spoke, it spoke with that same deep, but not overly deep, voice as before ((A/N: imagine Laxus from Fairy Tail's voice)). "So, still alive are we? I honestly thought that my Rock Smash woulda killed you."

That was a Rock Smash?!

Cole focus on the thing standing infront of him and spoke. "What are you?"

"A Ditto."

"How on earth are you a Ditto? Even they ca-"

"You wanna see proof, don'tcha?" It said before transforming into a Ditto. "Well here's your proof." Cole noted that it's voice was squeaky and had a nasely quality to it now.

"Well, looks like you are a Ditto after all. But how on earth can you turn into..."He gestured towards the Ditto, who had turned back into the creature from before, with his wing, "...that?"

"Oh, this?" the Ditto said as it put it's arms out in an x shape and swivled it's hands to point at it's torso. "Well, to do that, I'd have to explain why you're here, now wont I? Well. I'm willing to explain it all to you. But only if you're willing to sit there and listen. Then again... You don't really have a choice, do you? Heh, I guess not. Well here goes. You see, it all started when I was born. That's right. We Ditto are born hatched from eggs, though how said eggs are made is beyond even us. Anyway. I had always been, weaker than everyone else, and therefore I couldn't get any stronger. But at the time I was headstrong and to adamant for my own good, and this showed through in my numerous attempts to win battles, and loosing... Every. Single. Time. Now, you'd think I'd get message, huh? Guess what. I didn't. Well, I did eventually. But that took six of my friends getting killed right infront of me. No-less becuase of their refusal to give up even when it was obvious that they should have, a long while previous. That's when my inteligence kicked in and I realised that if those six, who were some of the strongest in that little village clan thing of ours, could die in battle this reasonably easy, that I had about as much chance in a proper battle as a piece of packaging foam has in a fire. That's also when my mind became, twisted of sorts. Actually no scratch that; it became a full blown, homicidal mass, of grey, psychopathic, fun. And that's when I had another realisation; instead of trying to get stronger, I should increase my prowess with Transform. And that's precisely what I did. Though I gotta admit that it wasn't easy and I had no idea how it could be improved apon, but I eventually got an idea. After I worked out how Transform could be improved, I began my training. At first it was difficult and seemed pointless even. That was until my first success; I had Transformed into not only the target's species, but the individual pokemon itself."

"What do you mean by that?" Cole asked, genuinely confused.

"What I mean is that I had transformed into them spefically. I had gained their individual memories. Experiences. Moves. Type. Stats. The works. All added to my own. Then I got worried that it wouldn't stay with me when I turned back. So I stayed in that form until a big wave of fatigue crashed into me and sent me into uncoinsiousness. When I awoke I was a ditto again. Then I remembered being across from a Ditto before it transformed into a Zangoose and started going on about how it's training had worked. Then I remembered the same thing, but from the Ditto's perspective. And that's when I realised! I had kept every thing of the Zangoose's even when I was no longer still his copy! Now, after my initial celebration died down, I began thinking of the possibilities this could have. And so I began transforming into all the pokemon that lived near our village, gaining all the stats I needed to become the strongest Ditto the village had ever seen. Eventualy I was entered into a tournament in order to see just how powerfull I was. I didn't enter myself though. The village elders entered me without my permission. The funny thing is, it wasn't a tournament at all; they had called in as many pokemon as they could who had high power levels. Turns out, I had gotten 'too strong' and 'too homicidal' to be allowed to continue on living. Heh heh heh heh heh ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah! It's actually pretty funny, how they actually thought that would work! What actually happened was this; I transformed into each and every one of those pokemon hired to kill me, and used their own skills... To annihilate the whole bunch of 'em! I spilled their guts all over the place! Ripped their limbs from their bodies! Split their skulls! Heck! I even ate some of 'em alive when I got hungry due to all the moves I was using! You should've heard all the screams! All the cries of terror! All the pointless please for mercy! All the roars of agony! It... Was... Absolute. Bliss!" The Ditto said blissfully as it's laugh, that could put even the most homicidaly insane madman to shane, rung out through the swamp for kilometres on end.

"You... You're insane!" Cole yelled in panicky disgust.

"Heh heh heh heh, thanks for the compliment! But back to my story. Now after that blissful event, the idiotic elders banished me! I don't understand why, I mean the only reason I had gotten that strong was so I could better protect the village! So I went back to tell them that. However, when I did, everyone attacked me! Wether it was out of fear or duty to take orders, I don't know. So, I did the only thing I could; I defended myself. Though in the proccess I ended up killing everyone. And thus, with no place to return to, I left. Now, with no reason to keep my insanity in check, I let loose with it and soon became a well known outlaw. And this is where little Zorua over here comes into play. After razing a town one day, this little guy had the gall the come up to me and ask to work with me! When I asked him if he knew who I was, he asnwered with a simple yes. I denied him and left. But then he kept on bugging me and bugging me and bugging me, until I finally gave up and accepted. He then willingly started doing all the things that I couldn't, what with my well known behavior and speach patterns. Even going so far as to kill a few people. Months later I had became addicted to death. Not my own of course, but other people's. And I started thinking, what can I do that will garranty all the death and murder I could possibly dream of? And then it came to me! A planet wide Guild war! Now of course there are also people who don't belong to guilds, as well as those in Rescue Teams, but they too would eventually get pulled into the fray. But then I couldn't think of how one would go about making that happen. Then Zorua came up with an idea; lure people out, I kill them, then he would tell the guild that one of their members was killed by a member of another guild. And if that didn't work, I'd kill 'em in a public place while Zorua used his power of illusion to make me appear as another guild's member, or I'd just turn into them." The Ditto announced. Cole looked over to the Zorua and noticed that he was looking down in shame and self-disgust. "And that explains why you're here, now doesn't it?"

"I guess it does. But you didn't answer my question!"

"Did I ever say I would?"

"Yes!"

"Uh, uh, uhuh!" It said as it wigled it's finger. "I said I'd explain why you were here. I never said I'd explain how I can turn into this. Gotcha didn't I?" The ditto explained as it kept poking at the air infront of Cole.

"Get away from that Pokemon! You psycho little shit!" Yelled a male voice that sounded like it belonged to someone in their late teens. This caused the Ditto to loose focus, and stop the Embargo, which Cole was surprised about as he thought that it was the Zorua who had bound him to the tree.

He took this chance to look at who it was that had spoken. What he saw was the wierdest looking Swampert he'd ever seen. A third head-fin had grown between the two other ones, which were shorter than normal. The orange cheek spikes were red, a lot longer and were tilted backwards. He also had three orange oval shaped bulges on each hand and he was a LOT bulkier than a normal Swampert, but was still pretty fast. He was the definition of 'Do you even lift, bro?' as long as the answer was 'Yes. Yes I do.' He was accompainied by a Sceptile, but it was a normal one.

"And who are you?" asked the Ditto.

"Who are we? Oh. No one in particular. Just the world-famous Rescue Team, Elementals. The only Rescue Team to have ever achieved Lucario Rank. Which by the way, was named that after 'his legendary exploits as a team leader', as Alakazam always likes to put it. Though, the thing he always forgot to point out was that he was the leader of Beast Brawl. An Exploration Team. So why a Rescue Team Rank is named after an Exploration Team leader, I'll never know. I asked the guy myself, and not even HE knows why! You shoulda seen Alakazam's face when I told him I had meet and talked to his role model! He was so jealous! That's payback for chasing us to Mount Freeze and trying to kill us all those years ago... Speaking of us... Necro! The hell are you?!"

After getting over the shock of coming face to face with his second group of idols, Cole finally spoke up. "Necro... He's an Absol, right?"

"Yeah. How'd you know? Not many people know about our third actual member." Asked the Sceptile. His voice was smooth and raspy at the same time. It sounded between talking with his breath and talking with his voice.

"Well you were the ones who made me want to be part of a Rescue Team. Though I couldn't find anyone willing to join with me, so I had to go with my other choice of being in an Exploration Team. Don't get me wrong, it was a tough choice because my other idols are Beast Brawl, so I wanted to be part of an Exploration team just as badly. But what did you mean by 'third actual member'?" Cole asked.

"Well, you see. Rescue Teams don't recruit people and add them to our roster. We befriend them and they go live in places called Friend Areas."

"I'm aware of that. I'm also aware that anyone who wasn't in the group when it was formed can't become a proper member. So how did he?"

"One, you mean she. And two, it's because I helped them take down Groudon and Raquaza, and thus preventing the world from being obliterated, on the first go. Each. With no Reviver Seeds whatsoever at our disposal." Said the Absol in question as she flew down on her wings.

Wait. How the hell is that Absol flying?! Absols don't have wings! Well she does, but that's beside the point! She! Isn't! Normal! Why does she have wings?!

Necro watched as the Torchic ran around in squiggly shapes on the spot, obviously confused as all hell as to why she had wings. She cracked a small warm-hearted smile at his predicament, then turned her head to the Water-Ground type member of her team when he spoke.

"Nice one Necro. Now the guy's confused to heck. Why'd ya have to do that to him?"

Necro let out a light giggle. "It's not my fault he's never seen a Mega Absol before." She then looked down, still lying down in mid air, at her Grass type companion. "Speaking of Mega's. Dendro, why aren't you in your Mega Form?"

"Honestly? It's cause I don't see the point. I become a Grass-Dragon type, which I can't complain about, but it's my ability that's sucks. Hydro gets Swift Swim, which is a big help considering how damn bulky he is while in Mega, but me? I get LIGHTNING ROD for Arceus sake! What the heck kinda bull crap is that?! What idiot is going to use an Electric type move against a Water-Ground type and a Grass-Dragon type? One takes a quater damage and the other one's completely invulnrable! It's completely rediculous!"

"Here we go again..." Necro added as she rolled her eyes while she moved her right fore-paw infront of herself and rested her chin on it.

"I mean seriously! Why not something that I can actually use?! Like a version of Thick Fat, but for non-fat asses. That I could use. Have you got any idea how many times I've almost fainted from the quadruple Ice-type damage?!" Dendro questioned no-one in particular as he paced around flailing his arms about almost hitting Hydro in the face. Said pokemon then grabbed said arm and then swung his arm in an arc to his side before letting go of the Sceptile. He turned around to face the green pokemon and simply said, "Shut up."

All of a sudden the Ditto cleared his throat heavily. "If you don't mind, I'd appreaciate it if the three of you left now. I was about to kill this kid." it said casually as if it was the most normal thing in world as it stood there with an expectant look on it face.

"Oh, ok sure. We'll leave now." Hydro said as he signalled Necro down to him before vanishing in a bright light.

"Good. Now. Back to the killing." the Ditto said as he faced the tree where the Torchic was. "Hay. We're'd he go?! Zorua! Find him and drag his orange feathery ass back here! If he escapes, our little plan might come crumbling down around us!" When nothing happened, he swung his head to face the place were Zorua was standing, only to find him no longer there. "Zorua! You leave me? Fine then. Just be prepared to die next time we meet!" the Ditto shouted out into the swamp. 


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this. Had a huge case of writer's block near the end there. Well, anyway, on with the story! And I don't own pokemon (obviously).**

* * *

In Pokemon Square, all the usual business was occurring. The Kecleon Brothers were jumping up and down, exited and talking about who would be their next customer, what they'd buy and what they might use it for. Persian was lying down at his little bank-stall, pretending to be alseep in an effort to get Wigglytuff to stop taking his ear off. It wasn't working. At all. Kangaskan was rushing about her storage place, organising everything and keeping track of everything she was keeping, from the small gummies, to the large lumps of metal commonly known as Metal Coat. Gulpin was still patiently waiting at her Link Station for customers. Wishcash was up at his pond being the wise old man he was, giving out advise and knowledge to anyone who came near, all the while watching the Metapod and Butterfree who were staring at the Kyogre shaped rock pattern on the path leading up to the Luminous Cave. Hariyama was still down at his dojo, stomping on the spot and waiting for challengers. Then, out of nowhere, a bright yellow column of light appeared. It shone for a few seconds before faiding, Team Elements standing in it's place. As soon as they appeared, Granbull and Lombre greeted them. "Hey, Hydro! So. How'd the job go this time?"

"Pretty good." Hydro said with a smile.

"Good? If we hadn't come when we did, this guy'd be dead right now. We only just completed the job, Hydro. I wouldn't exactly call that good." Said Dendro.

"Damn, lighten up dude. What happened to you? You used to be so cheery and up-beat. Now you're all serious."

Dendro then shoved a finger in Hydro's face. "You know perfectly well what happened! Don't act like you don't!" Yelled the Sceptile.

"Oh, great. Here we go again." Commented Hydro.

"In case that small brain of yours has forgotten why, it's because she died! It was to painful to stay happy! The guilt wouldn't let me! I wouldn't let me! It wouldn't have been right to be happy after she died! I don't understand how you and Necro can be so damn happy after what happened!"

"Don't call my brain small! Just 'cause I ain't as sharp as you, doesn't mean I'm stupid! And get over it! It wasn't your fault! It was none of our faults! And we're 'so damn happy' all the time because that's what she would have wanted, incuding you! Especially you! You two were the closest out of all of us!"

"Guys..." Necro said.

"That's why I'm like this! Because we were so close! She was your damn spirit guide for Arceus' sake! How can you get over something like that so easily?!" Dendro said, neither male having heard Necro's attempt at getting their attention.

"Guys." Necro tried again in vain.

"Don't try to turn this around on me! This is about you not knowing what your own all-but-official lover would have wanted for you! You need to grow up and think for a minute about what she'd think about you now! Grow up, and stop being such a baby!" Hydro returned angrily.

"You are so full of yourself! I've had it with you!" Dendro said as he turned Mega and ran at Hydro, who was now also charging at him. Just before they collided, Necro shouted.

"GUYS! ENOUGH! Both of you need to shut up, calm down, and look around you! Look at everyone! Everyone but Team ATC is cowering from you! And Cole here is absolutely terrified! Dendro! You need to grow up and realize what her sacrifice meant! She did it so we would be happy! Not serious and all doom-and-gloom! And you Hydro! You know he's still sensitive to anything to do with her! Stop causing trouble!" Necro yelled before turning around, picking up Cole and flying away from the argument in an attempt to calm Cole down.

"You ok?" She asked after a couple minutes of flying around.

"Yeah, now I am. If you don't mind me asking, what that all about? Who's 'her'?" Cole asked cautiously.

"When we finally met with her actual body, and, with the help of Gengar, freed her, she joined us and said her name was Sacro. Wierd name, huh? The first one of us to meet her was Hydro. She'd appear to him through dreams and conversed with him, helping with decisions and telling him about important things like a giant meteor trying to blow up the world, and when his 'role' was up. Later, she appeared to him in the real world while he was awake a few times. Both me and Dendro were the only ones with him at those times and we thought he was going crazy." Necro chuckled a bit at the memory. "But after Raquaza destroyed the Meteor, she just stopped appearing altogether. We later found out that it was because the cave in which she was trapped had discovered what she was doing and tightened it's hold her."

"Wait wait wait wait. The cave discovered what she was doing? What do you mean by that?" Cole asked.

"Well, believe it or not, that cave had a consciousness of it's own. Kind of like the Luminous Cave in Wishcash Pond. After Gengar's remorse alowed Gardevoir to be set free, she reunited with her old trainer, Gengar. After that, she asked to join us. We of course agreed. Eventually, after taking her on an absolute crap-ton of missions, me and Hydro noticed that Sacro and Dendro had developed a bond. A close one. Really close. Kinda like friends with benefits, but substituting sex for genuine affection. Until one night when she was acting suspicious and I followed her. Bad idea." Necro said with a slight blush of embarrassment. Then her features dropped. "And then that day happened. Groundon and Kyogre had gotten into a fight somewhere between their Friend Areas and Raquaza was busy finding and destroying the meteor debris, so we had to stop them. It turned bad very quickly and Sacro was caught in the crossfire between the two weather controllers. She used all the power she could muster to eradicate any negative feelings or emotions each of the two legendaries had towards each other, leaving no chance of any future clashes. But in the process ended her life. She faded away the same way Hydro did before he came back; in a cloud of yellow energy. We never saw her again."

"Oh. I had no idea."

"Not many people outside this small town of ours do. The only exceptions are your other two idols and the other ledgendaries. Raquaza felt utterly ashamed when he heard. Said that had he been doing his job instead of hunting down parts of a space rock, someone who played such an important role in preventing the world's destruction wouldn't have been killed due to his lack of competence." Necro explained. After a long pause, she added, "You know what the last thing said was?"

"What?"

"'My role here with you three is up. I've had the time of my life these past few years. But I will be needed elsewhere soon enough. We will meet again. And when we do, I will be in the company of a Torchic named Cole and a Zorua who's name I know not as of yet, both saved from a Ditto of unmatched insanity. But as much as it pains me to say this, I won't know any of you. Please, be happy after I'm gone. I will miss you all very dearly, especially you Dendro. Take care, you three. Au revoir... Team Elementals.'" Necro recited, tears starting to form.

"Wow. Well, at least now I know how you knew my name and why you actually told me about it all."

"Yeah. I kinda felt like I needed to. So. Do you think the two of them have calmed down now?" Asked Necro, finally ending the story of Sacro.

"God I hope so." Cole answered with a sigh. Necro giggled lightly.

"So do I." She said as she turned around and flew back down to Pokemon Square.

When they arrived in town, they heard a crashing sound come from behind a giant Mudkip head. They rushed down the path and saw a cloud of dust rise from behind the giant head. They carefully approached the yard to see a Sceptile and a Swampert fighting.

'looks like they still haven't calmed down yet.' Cole thought to himself just before Necro chuckled. Cole looked at her curiously and she told him that they were just sparing. Cole then noticed that the two males had grins on their faces. The two hiding came into view and into the backyard of the Mudkip head shaped rescue base.

"So, I see you've calmed down now boys. Well just so you know, we still need to get this guy back to Treasure Town. Or more specifically to Wigglytuff Guild."

"Oh, right. I'm so used to just coming straight back here from a job, that I didn't even think to change our destination when we left Cramped Swamp to Treasure Town. Well then. Shall we get going?" Hydro said as he held his Rescue Badge up in the air and three yellow light columns appeared; one surrounding Hydro, another surrounding Dendro, and the third one surrounding Necro and Cole. They were then warped to the area just infront of Wigglytuff Guild.

They walked over the grate and the wooden grate-door slid down and allowed them access. Noting how difficult it'll be for Cole to climb down the ladder, Necro picked him up and placed him on her back before following Hydro and Dendro down it herself.

When they reached the bottom, they hopped off the ladder and walked towards the big, almost-intimidating doors that lead to Wigglytuff's office. Hydro opened the doors and walked in, half startling the large pink pokemon. Wigglytuff got up and walked over to the Rescue Team with a smile on his face. "Ah! Elementals! What brings you here?" He asked happily.

"Oh nothin' much. Just dropping by to give this little guy back." Hydro said with a wide, closed-eyed grin.

"Hey! Just 'cause I'm still a Torchic doesn't mean you get to call me 'little guy'! I'm sixteen I'll have you know!" Cole argued loudly.

"Really? I thought you were eight." Wigglytuff said curiously.

"Bwah- who cou- who woul- how th- what on- why would- what kinda- where did you- HUUUUUUUUUHH?!" Cole asked, stumbling over his own words, completely dumbfounded. Hydro suddenly burst out laughing at the Torchic's half-arsed sentences. After his laughter died down, Wigglytuff asked Hydro how his brother in Pokemon Square was doing, completely forgetting about Cole.

"He's good. Still selling Friend Area's as usual." Hydro answered back. Realizing that the conversation was heading away from him, Cole took this as a sign to leave. However, just before he left, Wigglytuff said something to him.

"By the way, Cole. Because you're sixteen and not eight, you have to do three more separate jobs if you want to join without a teammate." Announced the big pink Guild Leader happily.

'Three more?! Are you kidding me?! Uh huh huh hhhuuuuuuuggghhh! Well, may as well go pick one.' Cole mentally complained. He managed to climb up the poorly constructed ladder to the floor above and decided to choose an Outlaw mission. He saw an E rank job that required him to take down a Phantump at a place called 'Spook Woods'.

"Spook Woods? A Phantump? This has got to be the first time I've ever seen an Outlaw who's type matched the theme of the dungeon they were hiding in." Cole spun around at the sudden voice, recognizing it as his good friend Umbreon.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked, confused.

"What I mean is that Outlaws are infamous for, besides the obvious, always hiding in random Dungeons that practically never have anything to do with either themselves or their type. Or types if they have more than one." Umbreon said as he quickly cocked his head to the side for a half-second.

"Why?"

"No idea. So. You gonna pick that one? The dungeon's not that far away and-" Umbreon began, but was called by a voice from above him.

"Umbreon! What are you doing?! Get up here so we can go already!" Announced the impatient Jolteon as he waited out front the guild for his teammate so they could go on their job.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be up there soon! Well, see ya later Cole." Umbreon said as he bounded up the half-arsed ladder.

'Well. I better get going.' Cole mentally said as he went for the ladder. As he was heading there, Team Elementals appeared from the ladder. Hydro offered to give him a lift and he accepted. After they walked out of the Wigglytuff shaped tent, Hydro remembered something.

"Oh, Cole, by the way. Wigglytuff said that since you technically completed two jobs while in Cramped Swamp, your remaining Job count is two, including the one you now hold in your... wing... fluff. How are you even doing that? Anyway, see ya later. Have rescue stuff to do." Hydro said as he and his two teammates disappeared in a flash of gold light.

Cole decided that doing two jobs in two different dungeons in one day was a bit much for him, so he went into town instead of heading towards the dungeons.

As he walked passed the underground café at the cross-road he started to pick up the energetic, upbeat vibe that usually emanates from Treasure Town. He dropped by Duskull Bank so he had enough money for a Red Gummi, or an Apple if they didn't have any.

He had just bought the red coloured food item when he heard people gasping. He decided to look for himself what all the fuss was about and when he saw who it was he was surprised to say the least. Team Beast Brawl had just walked into town. Though something was different about the leader, Lucario.

His yellow torso fur had grown at the neck and at the lower end of his back, forming a collar and bushy tail like mass of fur respectively. The black things on the back of his head had grown too; the outer two, which now had red tips, grew moreso than the inner two, and were now at his wrists. Speaking of hands, his were red and had two spikes now instead of one; one pointing slightly down with a small one just above it on each hand. A similar things was going on with his feet. Only about a quarter of his arms were still blue, the rest being black. His legs had a similar pattern, but the bulk if his lower half was still blue. His chest spike had grown a bit bigger and two tiny spikes had grown on the shoulder-rings. All in all, Cole had to admit, he looked pretty damn awesome. He looked at Luxray, expecting some change in appearance in him too, but was disappointed slightly to see that he looked the same as usual. Ah well. What was with all these wierd looking pokemon?

"If you wouldn't mind moving out of the way, that'd be nice. Kinda have to get through here." A voice said from right in front of him. He looked up to see that it was Lucario himself who had said it.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Cole said as he moved from the thin path leading to the Magnazone Police Department building. He noticed that there was a Gigalith held in the air by some type of aura. How the heck he missed such a big detail before just now confused the heck out of him.

'Ok. I've seen a Ditto who's mutated to all hell, an Absol who can fly, a Swampert who could send me flying just by giving me a light congratulatory slap on the back, a semi-demonic looking Sceptile, a semi-demic looking Lucario, and a Gigalith floating in the air. All in one day. I think I need to get some sleep.' Cole thought as he wondered back to the Guild. The temporary living quaters they gave to possible recruits being his exact target.

* * *

Under the cover of night, a small, black fox like pokemon found his way to an intersection. He looked down each of the paths and saw some sort of giant pink tent to the right, a beach to the left, and a small town up ahead. The town was out of the question, it'd remind him too much of the towns he helped destroy. The right wasn't a viable option either, as it was probably a guild. So he decided to head down to the beach as it was the only option he had left. He sure as hell wasn't going to turn around.

As he slowly walked down the path he began thinking about the choices he had made.

'Why did I run? I had no reason to, and I'm probably not going to last as long now that I have. Either way there's no turning back now. He's going to kill me the next he see's me. I'm a dead man. Damn that Torchic! Why, when I've watched that psycho kill hundreds of others, was I affected this time? Why damn it?! Was it because we-no he, failed this time? Was it because he actually tried to reason with the nut-job? Or was it because he was still a basic stage, like me? Maybe it was because I actually felt enough remorse for it to show. Whatever it was, there was something about him. Something, special. But why would I have fled for that? What, did I think he'd let me just team up with him next time we met? Or was it because i just couldn't take all the death anymore? Oh god, this is driving me crazy! But still, what am I going to do no-' His thoughts were interrupted by a pokemon screaming.

He went to go help but stopped himself. 'What am I thinking? After all I've done, I don't have the right to help someone. I've lured thousands to their deaths. Why should one pokemon getting abused matter?' He thought as he walked over to a tree to sleep in.

On his way over to said tree, several more screams where let out. 'No. Don't do it, Oboro. Just ignore her. Ignore the screams. You've heard worse.' This pep talk began to work until one of said screams was suddenly cut short. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to help.

* * *

-?'s POV (3rd person)-

Why? Why were they hitting her? She didn't do anything. All she did was walk out of a beach-side cave, trying to find some clue as to where and who she was. Was that so wrong? She didn't understand why these Scrafty started attacking her. First it was just pushing, then it escalated to punching and kicking. And when she was near unconscious from the pain, they'd force her to eat an Oran Berry and then start all over again. And each time they'd aim for her bruises and sore spots. How could they be so cruel? After a while she was screaming out from all the pain. At one point, she had just been kicked in the ribs and screamed in response, but halfway through, one of the Scrafty stomped on her face.

"Oh, look. We've run out of Oran Berries. Looks like this'll be the last strike. Hehe." One of them said as he prepared to slam their foot into her side. She heard the foot make impact, but she didn't feel it make impact. She opened her eyes to see a Zorua standing over her.

'Huh? Who's this? Why is he protecting me?' She thought.

"If you want someone to hit, hit me, not her. It's the least I deserve considering what I've done." She heard him say.

"If you say so!" One of the Scrafty said. Soon they all began laying into him. After several minutes of non-stop attacks, the gang left laughing.

-neutral POV-

"Why did you do that?!" She asked the Zorua, who now had a serious limp.

"As I said. It's the least I deserve."

"What could you have possibly done that would make you think that?!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe luring thousands of other pokemon to their deaths, perhaps?"

"Well, I... I'm sure you had your reasons for doing it..."

'Is she serious right now?!' Oboro thought. "And?"

"Huh? What do you mean 'and'?"

"Your currently conversing with someone responsible for the deaths of thousands."

"So then why did you save me?"

"Because I'm responsible for the deaths of thousands. I'm only sixteen years old. I couldn't bare it. No sixteen year old should have to. I tried reasoning with my self that one more person in pain shouldn't matter, but I couldn't stop myself in the end. I guess, deep down I believe I deserve some form of redemption."

"...I do too."

"Huh. That's the first time anybody's thought that. Mind if I get your name?"

"My name? Why my name?"

"Well we are pretty banged up. May as well know the name of the person I'll be sharing a tree with for a couple of days while we heal up. Unless you have somewhere else you can go to hide from those pricks."

"Oh, well in that case my name's Sacro. Now where's this tree?"


End file.
